Marlins Discuss the Ups and Downs of the Season

The Miami Marlins capped off a moderately successful 2026 season with a 5-3 victory over the National League East Champion Atlanta Braves; now, they look to next season.

While 2026 may not have produced some of the postseason promise that the Fish displayed through June, the year was far from being a wasted campaign. The Marlins gave it a nice run, including a spectacular 20-6 record in June, and managed to finish the year at 80-82. In what was considered a season on the brink, the team played hard and didn't break, even with several injuries to some key pitchers.

Notably, starter Max Meyer didn't make a start after mid-July, and the bullpen lost closer Pete Fairbanks for the year. Despite all the 

But like any season that doesn't end with a World Series Trophy, there's something a bit melancholy about packing up at the end of such a long stretch. Marlins second-year manager Clayton McCullough, the man who has been put in charge of Miami's rebuilt roster, put the season in perspective after Game 162.

“We took a step forward,” McCullough said during his postgame comments on Sunday, according to the Miami Herald. “It wasn’t a big enough step this year to play beyond [the regular season], but looking from last year all the way through this year, I think we have taken some really encouraging steps forward. We’re just going to have to continue to take another step forward next year.”

One person who had an uplifting effort in 2026 was veteran starter and former Cy Young Award winner, Sandy Alcantara. Miami’s ace set multiple franchise records as he rounded back into form for the first time since Tommy John surgery two years ago. Alcantara showed no signs of shakiness, leading MLB with 214 innings. The workhorse even picked up three saves near the conclusion of the season, including a scoreless ninth inning on Sunday to cap Miami’s season.

“It means a lot to me,” Alcantara said. “I’m very happy with myself, and I just want to do everything that I can to make this team win games with the way that we’ve been fighting since day one.”

The recurring storyline of the team's downfall was its 12-game losing streak in July, which has been cited as the beginning of the end for the Fish. Never in Major League history has a team that endured a skid of 12 games or more ever qualified for the postseason. That was a weight the Marlins couldn't overcome. The hope for Fish fans is that the young club learned from that downfall and will use it as fuel for the future.